We have not had cable in over 3 years, no dish, no nothing. We have been saving money by getting the highest internet speed and watching Netflix and Hulu and watching the occasional show on CH131.com. However, recently it has come to our attention that CH131 and other sites that offer streaming are now being watched more closely by the government and we can get into trouble for streaming, not downloading, but streaming. So, we have stopped using them and have been either buying the shows from Amazon or just not being able to watch them at all. Which sort of sucks.

Now that you have the back story, on to the reason for the post.

I got a call from our ISP trying to sell us their triple play that has cable in it. I usually tell them no and go on my way, BUT this time I decided to give it a try. The guy comes out to install and somehow burns out 5, count that again 5 boxes- every time he tries to connect them all. The way it works is that the main hub is the gateway router and the other boxes all hook up to it via a coaxial cable, then they all plug into the wall for power. With the exception of my DS's box, which was connected separately, for whatever reason. The main hub is connected to the outside DSL line for service and then passes the signal on to the other boxes. This guy just kept getting more main hubs and blowing them. For a total of 5!

One would think after the first couple, he might do a little checking to see why it was happening, but no, he just kept doing it. Once he got down to his very last box, he called his boss, who came over to help. We had unplugged everything by this time, because it really shouldn't have been doing it what it was doing. Anyway, the boss hooks everything back up and tests it and it seems fine- then it blows, too.

Somewhere in all of this, one of them had hooked up my 32' LCD TV via HDMI to the box in our bedroom and now- NONE OF THE HDMI INPUTS WILL WORK WITH IT! The boss told us it was an electrical issue in the wall and we would need to have an electrician come out to figure out the issue. However, I am now out of a TV, since nothing will plug into it and everything else (Bluray player, Roku) we have is HDMI. I am wondering who is at fault here and if we should call Centurylink up and demand a new TV.

BTW We don't own this house and won't be getting the electrical issue fixed, as it has been working just fine up until now and I don't believe I should pay to fix something that is not broken and certainly not on the belief of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. The home is in foreclosure, so the landlord will not fix it, unless it poses a danger to us and it does not. It just means we cannot have cable.

UPDATE!

So, the tech called and I told him to just come get the boxes and that I did not want Prism TV, just let me go back to what we had before. I did call my Uncle who is a journeyman Electrician and he said it didn't sound like it was an electrical thing, as it sounded like something in their equipment, but of course, he would need to check it out himself to know for sure. I went shopping, but DF was there and the tech did not take the Prism gateway, just the other boxes. He said we needed to call CL and have them change it on the hub at the corner. I was going to call today. About 3 hours after he left, our service went out- ALL of it. We called, we got hung up on (accidentally, I'm sure) three times before finally getting someone who said they would have to send a tech out today to check out our hub or box. Well, I have homework due by 3pm, so I told them to call me, if they needed inside- as I now had to go to Starbucks.

During the conversations with the CS people, I learned- they cancelled our Prism on the 23rd, although we never said one way or another until yesterday- the 24th. The tech noted that it was our fault, this is after I told him about our TV and asked who do I call about filling out a damage form. At one point, an agent told us that we did not have service at all and may need to get a new phone number and everything- later found out that was incorrect. The tech changed out our RJ-45 block and took our old one, which was less than 3 months old, sorry buddy, that wasn't yours to take. What a multitude of idiocy in one company! How do they even manage to stay in business?

I can get sound out of the TV via the sound bar and I would imagine if I plugged in my laptop into the computer jack, it would work also, but what is the point of having an HD TV, if it doesn't work in HD?

DF was saying that his company (he installs and fixes alarm systems and home automation) doesn't even blink unless the damage is over $1000, so a $400 TV should be replaced without much trouble. It just sucks that it happened at all. I don't want them to try to come back and say the issue is because of the house's wiring, when it was not a problem before this guy tried to set up the cable. KWIM?

BTW I know you meant dish network, but I got a giggle out of fish network. LOL

Quoting baquick:

I used to work for fish network.

Call them and open a damage claim. They need to replace the tv. (Just say you plugged the tv in elsewhere and it works fine, just not the hdmi inputs.) explain it and get them out there.

But ya. They should do Something. Idk what. But something. You may have to have an electrician look at it first to rule it out for them. They will most likely require it before a claim will be processed. I know Dish and Direct would.

The sooner you call, the better.

Quoting opal10161973:

I can get sound out of the TV via the sound bar and I would imagine if I plugged in my laptop into the computer jack, it would work also, but what is the point of having an HD TV, if it doesn't work in HD?

DF was saying that his company (he installs and fixes alarm systems and home automation) doesn't even blink unless the damage is over $1000, so a $400 TV should be replaced without much trouble. It just sucks that it happened at all. I don't want them to try to come back and say the issue is because of the house's wiring, when it was not a problem before this guy tried to set up the cable. KWIM?

BTW I know you meant dish network, but I got a giggle out of fish network. LOL

Quoting baquick:

I used to work for fish network.

Call them and open a damage claim. They need to replace the tv. (Just say you plugged the tv in elsewhere and it works fine, just not the hdmi inputs.) explain it and get them out there.

It was a subcontractor, not from the company itself. However, if CL decides to not take care of this, I will most likely cancel their service altogether. We have already had them out here 12 times since the summer because of issues with the internet alone. It was always something like you need to replace the wire from the box to the house or the RJ-45 block or some other thing that they were not responsible for and it was never any of those things. There were issues with their wires on the pole or the box at the end of the road, not our responsibility. It just seems like they always blame the issues on something WE did or need to fix and never that they have an issue with their stuff. SMDH One guy even told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, like because I am a woman I couldn't possibly know. Guess who was right? Not him. DB

We also have Comcast, but I have heard that they were not much better. So, that will be our only other option for both ISP and cable. Dish apparently thinks my credit card is not real and I had Directv before and they tried to rip me off. Neither of them provide internet either. I would rather just go back in time and tell the lady on the phone NO. LOL

Quoting kappalopokis:

I hate Centurylink!

We have to use them they're the only providers in our area.

by Anonymous 2

January 23, 2013 at 10:01 PM

why are you even bothering to have cable installed when the house is in foreclosure? Shouldn't you be trying to move??